Friday, April 29, 2016

It's engrained in our culture that we're
supposed to take care of business on our own, without seeking assistance. Maybe
that's why one of the most beloved of all Bible verses isn't actually in the
Bible. Yes, it's this chestnut: "God helps those who help
themselves." Just about everyone knows that one. People quote it, they
love it, they try to live it, but it never crosses their minds that it can't be
found in the Scripture.

Maybe God forgot to put it in? I don't
think so. A better explanation is that God actually helps those who can't help
themselves. God helps those who stop in the midst of crisis and ask someone to
assist them. When we're helpless and we know it, we're open to receive the
transforming help He wants to give us. When we come to the end of ourselves, we
find Him there waiting to give us what we have been so desperate for all along.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

My life is in your hands, God.Use me to point someone toward You today -- I
promise to cooperate in any way I can.If you want me to say a word for You today, I'll do that.If you want me to keep quiet but demonstrate
love and servanthood, by Your Spirit's power I will.I'm fully available to You today, so guide me
by Your Spirit.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

"And let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter
of faith."(Hebrews 12:1b-2a NIV)

A father wanted to give his daughter
something to do and there was a picture of the world on a sheet of paper. He
tore it into smaller pieces and told her to see if she could put the pieces
back together correctly, kind of like she would work a puzzle. The little girl
agreed. Five minutes later, she showed her father the pieces put back together
perfectly. He was amazed. When he asked her how she had done the task so
quickly, she said, “Oh, on the back was a picture of Jesus and I figured if I
got Him right, the world would fall into place.” Our worlds are in chaos
because we aren’t focused on Jesus.

Monday, April 25, 2016

If you were pressed to find one image
that encapsulates Christianity, most people would probably think of the cross.
The cross is central to almost every church sanctuary in America, and we have
adopted it as the center of our faith.

And yet, while the cross is certainly a
central theme in the story of how God saves us, it is one aspect of a greater
story.

Yes, Jesus died for our sins. But even
more than that, He lived -- that we might live with Him. And Christ’s
resurrection is the inaugural event of the new creation. Paul even goes so far
as to say in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your
faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

So if the resurrection is the real crux
of our faith, what does it mean to live in light of the resurrection?

In his book Surprised by Hope,
N.T. Wright notes, “The point of the resurrection ... is that the present
bodily life is not valueless just because it will die ... What you do with your
body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it.
What you do in the present -- by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying,
teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing
poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself -- will last into
God's future.”

In other words, the resurrection changes
everything. The Kingdom of God is here and yet it is coming. God has chosen His
resurrection people to be change agents in their culture; to proclaim this
coming Kingdom through how they live, relate and work.

Friday, April 22, 2016

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."(Genesis 1:1)

The universe is full of beautiful and amazing sights. From the
galaxies revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope to amazing forms of microscopic
life, from the beauty of the prairies at sunset to the majesty of snow-covered
mountains, from the magnificence of lions and elephants to the soft gentleness
of a puppy dog -- the world as we know it is a good creation.

One of the strongest philosophical arguments for the existence
of God is called the argument of design -- that such an amazing universe with
all its complexity, beauty, and intricacy must have been planned by a supreme
being.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

I once heard a wise priest say, in a meditation on
gratitude, that we should be especially grateful for whatever breaks our
hearts. Reflecting on God's promise to write "upon" our hearts rather
than "within" them, he suggested that our own hearts are so hard that
all God can do is write upon the surface (Jeremiah 31:33). It is only when our
hearts break, that they break open: then the word of God can enter deeply, like
a seed in a harrowed field.

-- Deborah Smith Douglas, from "Wounded and
Healed" in WEAVINGS: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life,
March/April 2000, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.Used with permission.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Our limited acts of love reveal to us [God's] unlimited
love.Our small gestures of care reveal
His boundless care.Our fearful and
hesitant words reveal His fearless and guiding Word.It is indeed through our broken, vulnerable,
mortal ways of being that the healing power of the eternal God becomes visible
to us.Therefore, we are called each day
to present to our Lord the whole of our lives.

Monday, April 18, 2016

The image you hold of God can affect your
desire to answer the call of God in your life. For example, if you feel God is
to be feared, you are unlikely to enthusiastically seek a way to use the gifts
God has bestowed on you. You will be too concerned about putting a foot wrong.

If you
see God as an angry God, you may be so worried about making a mistake that you
cannot focus on gaining a clearer vision of life’s calling.

If, on
the other hand, you see God as compassionate, you will have the freedom to
explore various pathways toward clarifying that calling. Knowing God is
compassionate encourages you to understand that God is patient with growing things.
God is patient with you.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

The
presence of Christ with the Christian has numerous benefits.Christ is like the Good Shepherd, guiding us
through life, and He is sovereign over everything.This realization gives us a deep peace.It is most significant that when Christ met
His disciples after He rose from the dead, He often gave them greetings of
peace (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21,26).This peace touches every area of life that could trouble us.We are freed from a troubled conscience that
could bother us with guilt feelings over the past.We have courage to face the challenges of the
present because Jesus, who is sovereign over all things, is with us.We are not anxious about the future.So the peace of Christ touches our attitude
to the past, the present, and the future.It is a peace completely different from the peace the world gives (John
14:27), for it is not dependent on circumstances, but on Him, and He is
"the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold,
I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the
foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.'"(Isaiah 28:16)

Wikipedia defines CORNERSTONE as: The
cornerstone (or foundation stone) concept is derived from the first stone set
in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones
will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the
entire structure.

Christ should forever be our
CORNERSTONE...Everything else in our lives should be set in reference to Him,
thus determining our every move, decision, and focus in life.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

"I have come that they may have
life, and may have it in all its fullness." (John 10:10b REB)

When Jesus was pointing people to faith,
He unapologetically told them that the life He offered was the best kind of
life any human being could ever experience. In the gospel of Matthew, He
compared it to a pearl of great price, which He said would be worth giving up everything
to attain. "If you want life in all its fullness," He said,
"if you want high-definition, surround-sound, heart-pounding action,
there's only one place you're going to find it. A life like that is fully
yielded to the God of the universe!"

I hope
we'll renew our commitment to exhibiting this level of confidence and passion
when talking about our faith.

Monday, April 11, 2016

"You
now have sorrow," Jesus has told [His disciples], "but I will see you
again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from
you."(John 16:22)

Never
on this earth has there been a time when we haven't needed hope -- but hope is
critical when the ones we love the most are about to leave us.I believe that is why Jesus picked this time
to fill His disciples with hope . . .

All of
us have felt the emotional pain of saying good-bye to somebody we love.Perhaps we've lost a job.Or we've seen the breakup of a home, perhaps
even our own.And the questions in all
of our hearts are, "Where do I go?What do I do?Where can I find
hope?"We feel as if we have been
abandoned at the corner of Hopelessness and Despair.

The
good news is that we who know God through His Son, Jesus Christ, don't have to
be left at such a desperate corner.There is an answer, and His name is Jesus.That's not trite.It's not merely theological.It's not just church talk.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving;go into His courts with praise.Give thanks to Him and praise His name.For the Lord is good.His unfailing love continues forever,and His faithfulness continues to each generation."(Psalm 100:4-5 NLT)

Our lives may be full of change and
turmoil. Sometimes we need to stop and take in the big picture, to look back at
where we have been, to view the great span of our history with this Shepherd
who will not abandon the sheep. [In Psalm 100] the psalmist says God is good.
Instead of entering God’s courts in fear of judgment, we may enter singing
about God’s faithfulness and find ourselves welcomed home as beloved children,
sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Saints
are people who are faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ… A faithful Christian life
exhibits ongoing and active faith.Faith
is tested by the tough stuff in life -- when the chips are down and the heat is
turned up.I read about an elderly
woman, badly crippled by arthritis, who was asked. "Do you suffer
much?"She pointed to her hand and
responded, "Yes, but there is no nail here.He had the nails, I have the
peace."She then pointed to her
head saying, "There are no thorns here.He had the thorns, I have the peace."Finally, she touched her side and declared,
"There is no spear here.He had the
spear, I have the peace."This
faithful woman was a modern-day saint.She understood the incredible gift of grace given to her by God, and she
was filled with "God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human
mind can understand" (Philippians 4:7, NLT).

Monday, April 4, 2016

"See, I am sending an angel ahead
of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have
prepared."(Exodus 23:20 NIV)

The One who sets the course of this
road, and whose entry into it defines the way forward, is the same who walks
beside us, flesh of our flesh, God with us. Therefore, we can
trust without reservation a journey whose future turns we cannot see.

Friday, April 1, 2016

"I
write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that
you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13)

We
believe in assurance. Why? First of all, because the New Testament affirms it.
The sheep within the sheepfold know their shepherd. (John 10:5,14). The Holy
Spirit guides the faithful (John 16:13). And He assures them that they belong
to God. This is the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16).

We
believe in assurance also because Christian experience confirms it… And as life
goes on, we know, with an ever-deepening sense of assurance, that God is with
us. Just as children increasingly know that they belong to their earthly
parents, so Christians know they belong to God. Now and then they may have
doubts. But the continuing state of their souls is that of an unfaltering
assurance.

We
know that God forgives us. We know that God is with us in our daily work. We
know that when we are tempted God helps us to gain the victory. We know that
God confirms us as we enter into community struggles for truth and justice. We
know that we never walk alone through the valley of the shadow of death. When
we look back across the winding road of life, we know that God has seen us
through. And we know that the promise of heaven is sure. 'Blessed Assurance' is
not merely the title of a hymn; it is a state of the soul. [The feeling] may
come and go, but it is real and God has promised it.

--
Bishop Mack Stokes in Major United Methodist Beliefs, published by AbingdonPress, Nashville, TN.Used with permission.

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Welcome to SOUND BITES

By David T. Wilkinson

Over the years I have collected quotes that pertain to the Christian faith and life in general. As I have read or studied what others have written, I have been struck by the profound thought that is captured in their few short words. These quotes have been shared through SOUND BITES Ministry™ , a five-day-a-week inspirational e-mail ministry, and now are shared through this blog as well. You will also find us on Facebook by clicking SOUND BITES Ministry on Facebook.

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How SOUND BITES came to be

During Lent 1999 God prompted me to think about a new idea as to how I might share these thoughts with a broader audience. At the same time, our family was experiencing the first anniversary of the death of our son, Dustin, who died at the age of sixteen from a brain tumor. So, beginning on that anniversary, March 29, 1999 we began an e-mail ministry in memory of Dustin that we call SOUND BITES: Something to chew on that is good for the soul™. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, I share one of these quotes with subscribers. Hopefully recipients find something of faith and life to think about and chew on, which feeds their soul and helps them grow spiritually. Since its inception, over 4200 daily quotes have been sent out. The subscriber list continues to grow numerically and geographically with subscribers in every state in the U.S., and also in Canada, Mexico, and numerous other countries around the world. Currently close to 2000 subscribers receive SOUND BITES directly via e-mail and many others second hand. Now through Facebook, Twitter and this blog we expand our outreach even more. A number of years ago we had folks share how GOD has used our SOUND BITES Ministry™ to minister them. To read their comments click 13th Anniversary Comments.